Chimps – Whoever heard of a baby pirate? Well, the Chimps have been sailing the open seas with their pirate role play with all the little ones enjoying climbing the pirate ship. They’ve also been making colourful, glittery pirate swords out of cardboard and exploring crayons on wax paper. Their music and movement activity involved the ever-popular parachute where they played hide and seek games with objects and each other. They have been working on their building skills with stickle bricks and enjoying watching the effects of soapy suds on a blackboard. This week’s favourite songs have been the big action songs “Incy Wincy Spider” and “Wind the Bobbin Up.” The Chimps have also been sorting objects according to their properties, big/small, etc.

Howlers- The Howlers have been very busy. As usual, they do an array of activities exploring colour and this week was no exception as they made rainbow ice cream. Well, it was soap flakes, water, and paint, but they managed to mix it to just the right consistency that the Howlers could scoop them up and feel the scoops “melt.” They have also been observing the effects of flicking paints on a board using various items. Their exploratory activity this week was very exciting as they enjoyed ice cube lollies filled with herbs and fruit pieces. They got quite the sensory surprise once the ice melted. The Howlers have been dancing with brooms to the tune of The Grand Old Duke of York and playing a game of Magic Ball which involved lots of talk about small/large and heavy/light balls. Of course the Howler week wouldn’t be a full week without a bit of cooking and this week they made potato boats. In the book area, they also enjoyed a highly interactive story called “The City Awakes” and the children made corresponding sounds and actions throughout (the children laid down when it “was quiet in the street,” and imitated a clock). With all that activity, the Howlers wound things down with a shadow puppet show based on Peppa Pig going into the forest looking for animals.

Baboons – This week the Baboons have been practicing their customer service and shopping skills in the Green Grocer’s role play (with real fruit and veg), which involved writing shopping lists and making sure the grocer gave them the right number of items requested, counting out money and carefully bagging their delicate produce. They did occasionally take some sneaky chomps out of the fruit, but they were expected to pay for them. The Baboons have also been doing some exciting physical activities inside and outside of their room. In the garden, Ben led the group in some 6-pin bowling fun and there are some excellent bowlers in the room, while inside their music and movement activity was drawing to music with an emphasis on hearing the changes in tempo and drawing really fast or slow accordingly. They were also pretty excited about the very special marking pens they got to use (apologies for the colourful children coming home this week). There has also been a range of colour sorting activities using our colourful tubs and megablocks. Once they got used to sorting those, they started grabbing various items around the room and sorted them all as well. The Baboons’ group time, in spite of the occasional torrential rain, has been about sun protection and wearing hats in the garden and drinking lots of water throughout the day. The Baboons have also had a go at paper plate self-portraits using mirrors and their place mats and making paper crowns. In the book area, the Baboons have been practicing their rhyming skills with the crowd pleasing, Dr. Seuss.

Gorillas – The Gorillas have been paying particular attention to themselves as their group time this week has been about describing themselves and each other. Their standing school role play has inspired some of the Gorillas to become teachers as they have been leading their “class” with group times and focused activities. We think they might be ready for the real thing. When they’ve not been teaching their classes, the children have been directing their favourite scenes, which, of course, have stayed in the realms of Frozen and Star Wars. First, they created their directors’ boards in the creative area. Then all the actors dressed up in their scene costumes, grabbed rulers for microphones, chose their scene soundtrack (a lot of ‘Let it Go!’ has been played this week), and ACTION! The actors were very serious about their craft, with their singing and dancing resonating throughout the building. In other areas, the counting bears were being sent off in boats in the water tray and the Gorillas spent some time finding just the right sized boat for the right sized bear. In the garden, the children have been practicing their swing and aim with bat and ball games. They have continued learning to write their own names with a letter tracing activity and also created 3-dimensional crafts with paper plates and rainbow connects. The Lego people now have a variety of space ships to choose from. Thanks Gorillas!